Archive for July, 2013

This summer both of my girls had a birthday, and we celebrated by having a Mega Star Wars Birthday Blowout. Here are some of the ideas we used (mostly from Pinterest) in case you’re interested in having an inexpensive Star Wars birthday too!

First, you need to have a brother-in-law who will give your kids light sabers and dress up like a Storm Trooper. Sorry, can’t help you there 🙂

I found some $0.50 earmuffs at Michael’s, cut up an old brown sweater, got out my glue gun, and bought a bunch of brown yarn. It was time-consuming, but the Leia Buns Headbands were a big hit!

Cleverly-titled food tastes better. Everyone knows it’s true.

A Darth Vader pinata isn’t incredibly cheap, but I think it was worth it for the amount of fun the kids had!

Unrelated to the topic: instead of birthday presents each year my girls ask their guests to bring food for the food bank. It’s an idea I wish would catch on in popularity. My girls get PLENTY of presents from family, and this is a great way to teach them to give back! They come with me to deliver the items, and it really leads to some good discussions.

My birthday is this weekend, and I’ve been enjoying all the freebies and offers I’ve received via mail and email. I though this would be a good time to post my updated birthday freebies list!

Here are some of the great free things my family and I received for our birthdays this summer. If any of these goodies interest you, be sure to go to the company’s website and sign up for their loyalty program or email list.

Restaurants

We usually celebrate birthdays by enjoying a free dessert at Aubrey’s, no coupon required.

Here are some of the other coupons we received by email to use anytime in celebration of our birthdays. Remember, unless noted, you do have to sign up ahead of time. You can’t always just show your driver’s license.

$30 off a $30 purchase at the Ann Taylor Loft outlet, courtesy of the Tanger Rewards program, which I’ve belonged to for four years now. You’ll receive a $10 gift certificate during your first year in the Tanger Rewards program.

FREE NURSING COVERS FOR WORLD BREASTFEEDING WEEK!

ALL NEW PRINTS AVAILABLE NOW!

It’s as easy as 1-2-3!

Once you have made your selection, you’ll automatically be directed to the shopping bag. Enter the promo code “BREASTFEEDING2013” and we will deduct 100% off the cost of the cover – all you pay is the shipping, processing /service fees!

Remember: the promo code is “BREASTFEEDING2013” and you can use it more than once – just open a new browser window each time you do.

UPDATE: The giveaway winners are #81 Nancy and #129 Laurie B. Thanks to all who entered!

One of my kids’ favorite series is The Magic School Bus. I love how they learn SO much about science while watching this show. The cartoons are presented in such a engaging format that my girls now associate science with fun! I like this series so much that a friend and I have even spent the summer teaching Magic School Bus-themed classes to school-aged kids. (Did you know you can download free activities and worksheets to go along with each episode here?)

Lately, we have been enjoying a couple of new DVDs that will be released at the end of the month.

The first is called The Magic School Bus: Revving Up. This 3-DVD set retails for $24.95, but Amazon is having a special sale right now where you can pre-order for $16.99. It contains twelve episodes of the series that cover topics like energy, habitat and sound (approx. 5 hours) and will be released July 30. Here’s the official description:

Hop on board the magical, transformable bus with 12 Friz-tastic episodes! Seatbelts everyone! Sparks of discovery fly with this 3-DVD set containing over five hours of the Emmy Award-winning animated science-adventure series based on the bestselling books.

Ever wonder what’s behind a peculiar smell? Viewers who hop aboard the bus for IN A PICKLE are sure to find out across four never-before-released episodes including the title episode about microbes, along with “Meets Molly Cule,” “Makes a Stink” about smell and “Meets the Rot Squad” which covers decomposition.

There are all kinds of fun experiments you can do to go along with these episodes; our favorite that we’ve done is a smell-testing game using essential oils and cotton balls.

To enter to win, just leave a comment below letting me which of the above DVDs you’d choose if you win. That’s it! (If you’re reading this on Facebook/Twitter hop on over to thriftychristy.com to leave your comment.)

Additional Optional Entries:

You can do each of the following things for an additional entry in the giveaway. You can only do each of these once, for a possible total of 6 entries.

Please leave a separate comment for each method of entry. If you only leave one comment then you only have one entry, as each comment is numbered and I randomly choose a number. Make sense?

This giveaway ends at midnight EST on Thursday August 1. I will choose two winners (one for each title) on Friday August 2 using random.org and will contact them via email. Winners will choose their DVD in the order in which they are selected.

Thanks to New Kideo (the children’s division of New Video Productions) and Scholastic for providing the DVDs for this review and giveaway. All opinions in this review are solely my own. Giveaway open to US readers only.

I recently had the chance to read Rosemary Cottage, by Colleen Coble. This fiction book was released July 9, 2013 by Thomas Nelson.

About this book (from the back cover):

The charming Rosemary Cottage on the beach offers Amy Lange respite she needs to mourn her brother, Ben. She’s even thinking of moving her midwife practice to the Outer Banks community. It’s always been a refuge for her and her family. She also wants to investigate Ben’s disappearance at sea. Everyone blames a surfing accident, but Amy has reason to wonder. Coast Guard officer Curtis Ireland has lost a sibling too. His sister, Gina, was run down by a boat, leaving him to raise her infant daughter. If anyone knew who little Raine’s father was, Curtis could lose his beloved niece. Yet he can’t help being drawn to Hope Beach’s new midwife, Amy. He even agrees to help her investigate what happened to both Ben and Gina. Can two grieving people with secrets find healing on beautiful Hope Island? Or will their quest for truth set them at odds with each other…and with those who will go to any length to keep hidden things hidden?

My Verdict:

Rosemary Cottage is a great summer beach book. It’s a love story and a mystery, and I was surprised that I didn’t guess the ending correctly, which is always fun! I enjoyed the characters of Ben and Gina, and although this is book two in a series, I didn’t realize that until I was done reading it, so it stands alone as a novel. I’ve been a fan of Coble’s previous books in the Lightkeeper’s Daughter series, and this more modern series is just as good if not even better! I definitely recommend this book for some light summer beach reading.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze® book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Fairview United Methodist Church is having its annual Children’s Consignment Event Saturday July 20, and you’ll definitely want to make plans to be there. The sale starts at 8 a.m. and closes at noon for an hour. At 1 p.m. they reopen and everything without a red dot is on sale for half price. Sale items include clothing for all seasons for newborn to children’s size 16; all things for baby–furniture, strollers, pack-n-plays, etc., costumes, sports equipment, toys, puzzles, books, DVDs and gaming systems.

For more information, call the church office at 865-983-2080.

I am excited to be able to give away two passes for you and a friend to shop early on Friday July 19! (Of course, if you choose to consign you’ll shop early as well!)

Disclosure: If you order by clicking on any of my links and have never ordered from Tropical Traditions in the past, you will receive a free book on Virgin Coconut Oil, and I will receive a discount coupon for referring you.